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Sunday, December 18, 2011

4 gifts

Christmas is one week away. I'm still thinking about drawing the line.

Today I'm going to tell you about the new way we are doing presents as a family this year.

I had heard this poem from somewhere and we are doing it this year. 4 gifts per person.

Something you wantThis is the place where your child might get a set of blocks, or a new bike. How much you spend is up to you. I found myself very carefully considering our purchases this year. Knowing that my kids were getting ONE 'want' gift kept me from buying junk just because they might like it.

Something you needThis category can be surprisingly versatile. My youngest is getting a potty chair as his "need" gift. Our 8 yr old? Socks. Other ideas could be school supplies, new strings for their violin, underwear, their own plate set or travel watter bottle.

Something to wearMy youngest is getting his socks as part of this category. You can spend a good chunk of money in this category if you buy an entire outfit, brand new and name brand. Or if you really want to spend less on holidays, you can buy just one new item of clothing, OR even buy something from a yard sale and wrap it up for your kids "something to wear" category gift.

and Something to read.Pretty self-explanatory. Again you can work this category to fit your budget. Splurge on a whole new encyclopedia set, or buy a .25cent book from a yard sale and call it a day. Personally we're in the middle of that spectrum. I hosted an Usborne Books party earlier this month and used some of my free and half-price benefits to get my kids their books.

And that is how we are drawing the line at Christmas with gift giving. Spending less and buying less.

Stay tuned for some charity info later this week, there are some really neat causes out there!

This is a fantastic idea! Christmas is pretty simple in my own home because I only have one child and she is a teenager so she picks one big thing and then I also buy her some clothes...but we do a secret Santa exchange between the adults in the family with a $25 limit and that has taken SO much pressure off the holidays for all of us!